Rhinoplasty

“A rhinoplasty, also known as a nose job, is a surgery that is aimed to either improve the function of the nose or improve the appearance of the nose, or it can be a combination of both. Very often, I get patients who come and see me because they don't like their side profile because they have a bump. Often, they can't breathe through one side of their nose, or they've had some trauma or some injury in the past, and their nose is deviated or bent, and they want it straightened. I do a lot of rhinoplasty in my practice. I am, as a background, a cleft palate surgeon, and I do a lot of cleft septorhinoplasty. These are very difficult and very challenging noses, and this is my usual go-to in my NHS practice. I, therefore, have taken the skills I've learned from doing complex rhinoplasty, and I've transferred those skills into the aesthetic and cosmetic arena. There are various types of rhinoplasties, mainly so in terms of the approaches of the surgery. We have what we call a open-tip rhinoplasty, where we make a little incision at the bottom of the nose, open up and perform the rhinoplasty.

There is a closed-tip rhinoplasty, where the incision are usually on the inside of the nostril, but there's no cut along the columella. There are usually two reasons why people may choose to have a rhinoplasty, either to improve their function or to improve their appearance. In terms of the function, often patients come and complain that they cannot breathe through one side of the nostril. Very often, we would find that in these patients, the septum or the cartilage on the inside of the nose is bent or twisted. The nasal bones may be bent and twisted as well, and all of these will need to be straightened. The airways need to be opened up with cartilaginous grafts, and this will improve the airway and therefore allow the patients to breathe better. On the other side, when we have patients who come in and say, I want to improve the appearance of my nose, well, it depends which bits they don't like. Very often patients complain that they have a big bump and they don't like it when somebody takes a profile picture. Often patients can come in with very poor definition to the tip of the nose, or they've got a droopy tip nose, so that when they smile, they find that the tip of their nose is going down and covering their lip, which is what they don't like.

Often patients may have had trauma to their nose so that the bones are bent onto one side, septum is bent onto one side, and therefore what we call a crooked nose. And what we would want with the rhinoplasty is to straighten the nose, straighten the septum, do some work to the tip to improve better definition, and also improve the airways. A good candidate for rhinoplasty is a person who is very clear as to what they want for the surgery. While we can improve the appearance and function of the nose, there is a certain limit as to what can be done with a rhinoplasty. And usually this is a discussion that you would have with your surgeon, with myself, where we'll go through what can or cannot be achieved. In terms of recovery following a rhinoplasty, after the surgery, you will have dressings and a splint that is put on the nose, and that usually stays on for two weeks. We then take off the dressings and the splint. You will find that your nose is a little bit puffy. The puffiness takes a good 12 to 18 months to completely go away. The top third of the nose takes about three months, the middle third takes about another three months, and it's usually the tip that takes between 12 to 18 months to fully go away.

Now, that doesn't mean that your nose is going to be puffy for the next two years. It just means gradually you will see a certain decrease in the amount of swelling that goes on.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team at Emendo Surgical Group, and we would be delighted to see you.”